the guitar is a great instrument for kids to learn about music
First, a little background so that you can decide if you trust my opinion on this subject. I've been a musician and audio enthusiast nearly my whole life. When I was three years old I started taking violin lessons, and when I was five I got my first pair of speakers and joined my first choir. I got seriously into singing in high school and studied voice performance at the University of Western Ontario. I've been experimenting with sound and recording, building electronic instruments and composing for as long as I can remember. Music is an integral part of my life and I try to look at it from many angles. When I'm not designing electronics for my employer I'm either playing instruments, singing, or designing music circuits. I'm purposely not a professional musician so that I can save the emotional part of it for myself, and for obvious reasons of economics. (electronics is an expensive hobby... it's best to let someone else pay you to play around with it) Anyway, I've thought a lot about music and how it fits into the world and the lives of individuals and I'd like to share with you my thoughts about it. Specifically I'd like to explain why I think the guitar is one of the best instruments for learning about music.
I've taken many lessons over the years, mostly in singing and violin, and a bit in piano and guitar. Singing is my biggest strength, and violin is a really beautiful instrument. I never really got the hang of piano, but have enough keyboard skills for composing music on my computer. As for guitar, I've always known a few chords but never really got into it extensively until this past year. (I always had too many other hobbies and passions) I'm 29 and of the opinion that it's never too late to learn something new, so last year I went to the music store and got myself an electric guitar. I told myself that I'd practice for about an hour every day. And so far I've more or less kept that promise. As I get more into the guitar I become more and more convinced that learning about music on the guitar makes a great deal of sense. Some parents seem to think that the guitar is not a good instrument for learning about music theory and that the piano/violin/etc. makes more sense. I couldn't disagree more!
In the following sections I will explain why I think the guitar is the perfect instrument for learning music.
The guitar is really quite a simple and straightforward instrument. It has (usually) six strings, and although there are many ways to tune them, the typical E A D G B E tuning is good enough for all but a few types of music. The general concept of how a guitar works is easy to see and experiment with and is a great introduction to physics. Having everything exposed and accessible really makes you feel one with the instrument while you're playing it. Unlike the violin it's not really difficult to get and maintain a good sound. Certainly the piano presents one of the simplest methods of making sound. Just a press of the key produces a wonderful tone. But that's as far as it goes. The guitar has nearly as simple a playing principle, except that the player has far more intimate control over the sound that is produced. Adding vibrato, bending notes, and adjusting the tone of the sound is all quite easy. You really can make a guitar sing, speak and cry!
One of the things that I've really been appreciating more and more about the guitar is that it's quite simple to transpose music. When I was learning the piano I was really frustrated by how difficult it was to remember fingerings for many different types of scales and arpeggios. Because of the way the black notes are laid out, it's very difficult to move around. Chords and scales and arpeggios necessarily use different fingering for different keys. The guitar allows a small number of scales and chord patterns to be moved to any key easily. This makes the theory and technique part much easier. Instead of practicing playing scales in every key like on a piano, you spend that time learning things that further your playing technique in other more constructive ways.
Another great thing about the guitar is that when a student is learning about chords, intervals and music theory, it's much easier to remember patterns and visualize what exactly is going on by simply looking at the finger board. And once again, after learning these patterns they work anywhere along the finger board. This means that it's easy to put on an album and try to play along and learn what the musicians are doing. No worries if you haven't learned the key they're playing in. Just move what you know up or down until it sounds right and then use the very few fundamental chords and scales to jam along. It's amazing how much you can learn from trying to figure out what your favourite musicians are doing. And let's face it, most children today aren't listening to Beethoven piano sonatas on their own time. They're probably listening to something new, which probably has some guitars in there somewhere. Imagine your child figuring out the chords from their favourite song. This "playing by ear" is something that is hard for many classical music students, but virtually taken for granted by anyone playing rock, jazz, folk or any other style.
Last but not least in this section I must point out the importance of how the guitar (and most other stringed instruments) separate the fretting and picking/strumming into different hands. I'm left-handed but play right-handed and don't find this at all a problem. If anything I have an advantage on my fretting hand and need more work learning how to pick. But I believe that both hands have equal challenges anyway so it's not a worry. One of the things that I find so difficult with the piano is getting both hands working together at the same time. But with guitar it seems quite logical. You play the notes with the left hand and do all the articulation with the right hand. This seems simple and effective and certainly doesn't appear to limit the complexity of chords or melodies that can be played on the guitar.
Although there are lots of pianos around to play at churches and schools and other peoples' houses, most non-pianists get really attached to their instruments. I think this is a really interesting and lovely sort of relationship. Instruments all have their own characters and quirks and it feels really good once you've played an instrument for a while and gotten to know how to make the most of it. Fortunately for guitar players, guitars are not really very big or heavy. A typical Fender Stratocaster (the most popular type of electric guitar) weighs around 8 pounds. I play a Steinberger (pictured in the background image) which is much less than that and about the same size as a violin case when packed in its bag. But it's still a full-sized professional level guitar. Acoustic guitars are usually the largest, but also can be quite light as they are mostly hollow. My small-body acoustic has a decent sound and packs quite small... great for singing around a camp fire. Electric guitars need amplifiers, but there are amps of every size to choose from. Buskers on the street often use the Fender Amp Can which is about the size of a large tomato juice can complete with speaker and batteries. And most guitars have really nice cases and bags available which are easy to carry without hurting yourself.
Something that might be not obvious at first glance is that the guitar and the bass (both upright and electric) are very similar. The lower four strings of a guitar are the same notes as a bass but one octave higher. This means that if you learn guitar, it's fairly easy to play bass guitar or even a stand-up bass without much effort. Certainly each instrument has its own subtleties, but the fingering and basic concepts are interchangeable.
There are many types of guitars and many styles of music which use guitar. A guitar player that understands different music styles can play just about anything. Armed with a good electric guitar and amplifier, a guitar player can switch fairly easily between many styles by turning a few knobs to get the right sound. And with so many types of guitars to choose from, it's quite easy to choose an instrument that suits a specific style both in terms of sound and look. There really is something for everyone, all the way from radical jaggedy, pointy guitars for heavy metal to old-fashioned blues guitars, to pink guitars with Hello Kitty on them.
With the use of simple guitar effect pedals, electric guitar players can create a limitless array of sounds and effects. The possibilities for learning about audio, sound and timbre, and possibly even electronics are vast. One of the most interesting parts of the guitar for me are the sonic capabilities. I've been experimenting with sounds and have even started to build my own effect pedals as a way of further shaping the sound of my guitar. When practicing becomes boring just hooking up a pedal and trying out a new sound is often enough to make me feel excited again.
It's easy to become overwhelmed by all the guitar products available at the music store. But compared with other instruments the guitar really does represent one of the most incredible instrument values. A good violin for a student costs many thousands of dollars. A good woodwind or brass instrument is more than that, and a good piano costs over $10,000. Sure there are cheaper alternatives, but students should have good quality instruments if they're going to get the most out of their learning. A guitar "starter kit" for $200 might seem like a good deal, but it has virtually no resale value, and a good student will probably outgrow it quickly. I bought a mid-range guitar when I started this past year and replaced it within a few months with a professional guitar.
A professional quality guitar can be had for $1000-1500, and a decent amplifier for around $500-750. Even the most sought-after top-end models such as the Les Paul are no more than $3500 for the best models. Compare that with the cost of a piano or good sax and you'll see why the guitar really is fairly inexpensive. And the number of accessories available like cables, effect pedals, amps, etc. available at all price ranges give good goals for kids to save up to purchase better and different gear, or ask for it for birthday presents. And unlike computers and MP3 players, good quality music equipment retains its value for decades.
Let's not forget the most important thing about the guitar: (and why most of us play it...) It's frigging cool! Guys and girls alike look really cool playing the guitar, and even just carrying one in its case down the street. This hasn't changed in over 50 years since the dawn of rock and roll, and it doesn't seem that it will change in the near future. "Rocking out" as we like to say is one of the most enjoyable activities. With good sturdy strap and nothing breakable in the way there's nothing quite like jamming with friends, or even just playing along with a favourite song.
One of the most important things that I think every parent wants for their child is for their child to develop lifelong appreciation of music. It's disconcerting the number of great players of violin and piano I know who don't play anymore. The violin is a great instrument but it just doesn't fit into the music that most young people want to play. And the piano is quite versatile, but as soon as kids go off to college it's hard to fit a good keyboard into a dorm room. A guitar can travel anywhere, it's fun and cool to play it, and it really does fit into just about every music style that people want to play.
So if your son or daughter wants to play guitar but you want them to play something else, consider the arguments I've made above. I don't deny that singing, piano and other instruments present excellent learning abilities and challenges. Indeed a well-rounded musician is the best kind. But in terms of formal learning, accessibility, cost and coolness factor, the guitar really is unbeatable.
